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Hosted by Michael Russell · 🇺🇸 US · EN-US · 93 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Welcome to The Hotel Investor Playbook , hosted by real estate investor and hospitality operator Michael Russell. Michael is the co-founder of Malama Capital and Howzit Hostels , and has built a personal real estate portfolio exceeding $20 million. With an operator-first mindset, Michael brings a practical perspective to hotel investing. On the show, he breaks down what it actually takes to scale from short-term rentals into boutique hotels, covering deal sourcing, operations, capital strategy, and risk. Each week, Michael shares real lessons from the field as he builds toward a $400 million real estate business, giving listeners an honest look at the decisions, challenges, and strategies behind the growth. Subscribe and follow along as he documents the journey in real time.
Michael Russell hosts The Hotel Investor Playbook, a business show with 93 episodes published.
Alexander Cartwright is a PhD economist who left a tenured professorship to buy distressed hotels and convert them into workforce housing through his company, HotelSHIFT. His business rests on a simple valuation gap: hot
Dan Daly runs a fund that invests in boutique hotels across Europe, and on this episode he makes the case for why, in his view, Portugal beats the US on nearly every number that matters. According to Dan, property there
Neil Dipaola bought five wrecked Airstreams off Craigslist in 2012 to use as affordable housing in a Santa Barbara mobile home park. Today those trailers have grown into AutoCamp, a nine-property outdoor hospitality bran
Chris Kilcullen has spent three decades in hotels, closing more than $200 million in deals as a senior broker at Avison Young. He's also sold franchises, brokered acquisitions for a REIT, and now built his own hotel conc
He's not a hotel investor. He built his career in multifamily and self-storage, growing a portfolio that peaked near $1 billion across more than 4,000 units. But the way he underwrites deals, ranks markets, and raises ca
Most hotel investors build the product first and spend years chasing an audience to fill it. This guest flipped the order entirely. In this episode, Michael Russell sits down with a former travel content creator who buil
Most people walk past the ugly deal. That's exactly why the ugly deal is where the money is. In this episode, Michael Russell sits in the hot seat as a guest on the Lights On Podcast, sharing the unfiltered story behind
In this episode, you'll learn how to diagnose whether your property is actually a candidate for wellness positioning, and if it is, how to implement it in a way that lifts ADR without blowing out your expense line. A hos
In this episode, you'll learn how to diagnose whether your property is actually a candidate for wellness positioning, and if it is, how to implement it in a way that lifts ADR without blowing out your expense line. A hos
It took zero dollars of his own money to buy a $4.5 million waterfront resort. It took three years and over a million and a half dollars out of pocket just to keep it. In this episode, you'll discover the deal, debt, equ
Most boutique hotel operators are leaving serious money on the table, not because of bad locations or bad products, but because of bad marketing fundamentals that nobody told them about. In this episode, you'll hear exac
What happens when you find a deal that could change everything, but you've drained your bank account just to close it? In this episode, you'll hear exactly how one operator went from cleaning parking lots to owning the b
Most people assume you need outside investors, a big budget, or a prime location to build a profitable hospitality brand. This episode proves otherwise. In this episode, you'll learn exactly how one builder went from wor
You hit your targets. You built the business. So why does it still feel like something's missing? In this episode, you'll discover why deferring your happiness until the next deal, the next promotion, or the next milesto
What if you bought a rundown bed and breakfast on Zillow, moved in the next day, and turned it into Colorado's first luxury treehouse hotel, all without raising a single dollar from outside investors? That's exactly what
In this episode, you'll discover how a single ultra-niche lodging unit can outperform a full hotel on cash-on-cash returns and what that signals for boutique investors paying attention. A treehouse designer whose work ha
What if the most overlooked apartment deal in your market is already built, it's just flagged as a hotel? In this episode, you'll discover how a valuation gap between hotels and multifamily creates forced equity of 40 to
Experienced real estate investors make the jump into hospitality every year. Most of them underestimate what they're getting into. In this episode, you'll hear what it actually looks like when a seasoned commercial opera
What does it actually cost to build a boutique hotel from scratch in a foreign country? More than you think, and not just financially. A short-term rental operator running 220+ properties across 40 cities is now three ye
Most people who buy their first hospitality property don't realize they just bought themselves a 90-hour-a-week job. The difference between owning a business and being trapped inside one comes down to a single number mos
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The Hotel Investor Playbook is hosted by Michael Russell. The show is categorised under business (investing) and has published 93 episodes.
The Hotel Investor Playbook has published 93 episodes.
The Hotel Investor Playbook regularly covers business, investing. It sits in the business category, with a investing focus.
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Episodes of The Hotel Investor Playbook average 49 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
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